The McGann audition script
Mar. 10th, 2011 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dbskylerFor those who are interested, I've transcribed the script of the three scenes from the McGann audition that appears on the TVM DVD extras. (Yay for subtitles!) I also sent it over to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dw_straybunnies. Can't wait to see if some insane person takes this on and tries to make a fic out of it!
[My notes are in bolded brackets, like this.]
Scene 1:
Doctor: I came to say goodbye. [Because the Doctor always says goodbye.]
Time Lord: You have sealed your fate.
Doctor: I am so sorry to have caused you so much trouble. You gave me a home when no one else would have me. This is not the way I should've repaid you.
TL: I have never seen a Time Lord arrive quite that way. You never cease to surprise me. I shouldn't have urged you into politics. [Politics? Sorry, but I can't imagine anyone urging the Doctor into politics.] Maybe one day you'll find out what you're looking for.
Doctor: But I already have. (Holds up scrolls.)
TL: The Scrolls of Rassilon. Show me. [Of course they're the Scrolls of Rassilon. One day, I want the Scrolls of Runcible to show up. Just for a change.]
Doctor: They seem to foretell the future. [And as we all know, only people who can travel in time could possibly know the future. Good thing those scrolls exist!]
TL: Why didn't you tell the Time Lords? It is written that the finder of the lost Scrolls . . .[Written where? In a not-so-lost scroll?]
Doctor: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Will lead his people out of darkness, I know. But it also says that the finder will be descended from Rassilon. The finder will be descended from Rassilon, like you, like your son Ulysses, like his son, the Master. [The Master's descended from Rassilon? Wouldn't this have come up by now, say in "Deadly Assassin" or something? Never mind, I'm still stuck on how the Master's father's name is Ulysses.]
TL: I have a confession to make. Until we perfected time travel, many of our early explorers were lost. My own son Ulysses never returned.
Doctor: A great explorer. He will always be a legend among us.
TL: Ulysses had a second child while exploring the blue planet, Earth, by a woman of that world.
Doctor: Well then, is he not the rightful inheritor to the Sash, not the Master? [Sash? What Sash? How did a Sash get into it?]
TL: You are that blue-eyed child. [Except for the times when your eyes are brown.] When your mother died, your father sent you back to Gallifrey to be raised among his own people. [So although Ulysses was "lost," he was able to send his son home? I do not think that word means what you think it means.]
Doctor: My brother? The Master? Why didn't you tell me? [New father, new mother, new grandfather, new Sash, plus you've just found out you're half-human, but it's your sudden relationship to the Master that you focus on? Okay, that's in character, never mind.]
TL: I've held our family together with this secret. [Well, except for your lost son. And the fact that the Master's a villainous psychopath. But other than that, well done!] Because your mother was from Earth, you were of mixed race and would have never been allowed to be a Time Lord. Everything you have to offer Gallifrey would have been lost. Without a clan to protect you, you would've been sent to the wilderness to live among the outsiders. [Wow, some actual continuity with "Invasion of Time." Given the craziness of the rest of this, I'm not sure what to do with continuity.]
Doctor: I have to look for my father.
TL: And face your brother. Only then will you take your rightful place. [In the TARDIS?]
Scene 2:
Woman: Why do you stare like that?
Doctor: I'm sorry, it's your face . . . See, where I come from, your face would be considered strange. Strange. I find you beautiful. [What about her face could be strange to Time Lords, but not to humans?]
Woman: Gee, thanks. Who are you?
Doctor: I'm the Doctor.
Woman: What . . . what, doctor of what?
Doctor: Of many things. Temporal engineering, quantum physics, astrology, archeology, medicine, things one must know.
Woman: I have a Ph.D. in physics, and I have never heard of temporal engineering.
Doctor: It hasn't been invented here yet.
Woman: Temporal. You mean you can engineer time?
Doctor: Just call me a tinkerer.
Woman: You know what's going to happen tonight, don't you?
Doctor: Mmm-hmm. Of course. Of course. You see, where I come from, every schoolboy knows about Britain's first long-range rocket launch. [Because 20th century British history is a required course at the Time Lord Academy. That makes sense.]
Woman: You picked up a radio signal sent from this museum, you're very familiar with coded languages, and you know about the V2 rockets tonight. How do you explain this?
Doctor: I'm from a different planet.
Woman: Look, I don't know how you got in here, wiseguy, but you are not getting out.
Doctor: It's been fantastic to meet you. I must go.
Woman: I have never had the pleasure of shooting a Nazi, so if you try anything, you get to be my first. [Nazis! What do you want to bet some real Nazis make an appearance later on in this script, and the Doctor foils them?]
Scene 3:
Doctor: It's incredibly blue.
Woman: It's just floating there. I'm the first human being to ever see it like this. [I wouldn't count on that.] Just a blue ball alone in all this black space.
Doctor: What can you tell me about my father?
Woman: He seemed like a good man.
Doctor: Every single detail. Every detail, don't leave anything out.
Woman: I watched him change from an old man into a raw-boned Kansas farmer. Strong hands and weathered face. [I . . . have no words.]
Doctor: What did he say?
Woman: He said, "No matter how far you travel in your life, you can always go home. And I'll be there, waiting for you." ["Except for Gallifrey. I won't be there. Oh, and I won't be waiting for you on Earth either, because you have to search for me. On second thought, never mind."]
Doctor: That sounds like something he would say. [How would you know?]
Woman: Yeah.
Doctor: See, when I search for him again, I need to know what he looks like. [Better hope he hasn't regenerated again.]
Woman: Well, I'll point him out.
Doctor: We may not be together, you see, when the time comes.
Woman: Oh, yes, of course. I hadn't thought of that.
Doctor: I may never find him.
Also, so you can see it for yourselves, here's a link to a video I found of the audition. It has all of scene 1, and most of scene 3: http://io9.com/#!5758458/original-audition-video-proves-doctor-whos-1996-comeback-could-have-been-way-worse
dw_straybunnies. Can't wait to see if some insane person takes this on and tries to make a fic out of it![My notes are in bolded brackets, like this.]
Scene 1:
Doctor: I came to say goodbye. [Because the Doctor always says goodbye.]
Time Lord: You have sealed your fate.
Doctor: I am so sorry to have caused you so much trouble. You gave me a home when no one else would have me. This is not the way I should've repaid you.
TL: I have never seen a Time Lord arrive quite that way. You never cease to surprise me. I shouldn't have urged you into politics. [Politics? Sorry, but I can't imagine anyone urging the Doctor into politics.] Maybe one day you'll find out what you're looking for.
Doctor: But I already have. (Holds up scrolls.)
TL: The Scrolls of Rassilon. Show me. [Of course they're the Scrolls of Rassilon. One day, I want the Scrolls of Runcible to show up. Just for a change.]
Doctor: They seem to foretell the future. [And as we all know, only people who can travel in time could possibly know the future. Good thing those scrolls exist!]
TL: Why didn't you tell the Time Lords? It is written that the finder of the lost Scrolls . . .[Written where? In a not-so-lost scroll?]
Doctor: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Will lead his people out of darkness, I know. But it also says that the finder will be descended from Rassilon. The finder will be descended from Rassilon, like you, like your son Ulysses, like his son, the Master. [The Master's descended from Rassilon? Wouldn't this have come up by now, say in "Deadly Assassin" or something? Never mind, I'm still stuck on how the Master's father's name is Ulysses.]
TL: I have a confession to make. Until we perfected time travel, many of our early explorers were lost. My own son Ulysses never returned.
Doctor: A great explorer. He will always be a legend among us.
TL: Ulysses had a second child while exploring the blue planet, Earth, by a woman of that world.
Doctor: Well then, is he not the rightful inheritor to the Sash, not the Master? [Sash? What Sash? How did a Sash get into it?]
TL: You are that blue-eyed child. [Except for the times when your eyes are brown.] When your mother died, your father sent you back to Gallifrey to be raised among his own people. [So although Ulysses was "lost," he was able to send his son home? I do not think that word means what you think it means.]
Doctor: My brother? The Master? Why didn't you tell me? [New father, new mother, new grandfather, new Sash, plus you've just found out you're half-human, but it's your sudden relationship to the Master that you focus on? Okay, that's in character, never mind.]
TL: I've held our family together with this secret. [Well, except for your lost son. And the fact that the Master's a villainous psychopath. But other than that, well done!] Because your mother was from Earth, you were of mixed race and would have never been allowed to be a Time Lord. Everything you have to offer Gallifrey would have been lost. Without a clan to protect you, you would've been sent to the wilderness to live among the outsiders. [Wow, some actual continuity with "Invasion of Time." Given the craziness of the rest of this, I'm not sure what to do with continuity.]
Doctor: I have to look for my father.
TL: And face your brother. Only then will you take your rightful place. [In the TARDIS?]
Scene 2:
Woman: Why do you stare like that?
Doctor: I'm sorry, it's your face . . . See, where I come from, your face would be considered strange. Strange. I find you beautiful. [What about her face could be strange to Time Lords, but not to humans?]
Woman: Gee, thanks. Who are you?
Doctor: I'm the Doctor.
Woman: What . . . what, doctor of what?
Doctor: Of many things. Temporal engineering, quantum physics, astrology, archeology, medicine, things one must know.
Woman: I have a Ph.D. in physics, and I have never heard of temporal engineering.
Doctor: It hasn't been invented here yet.
Woman: Temporal. You mean you can engineer time?
Doctor: Just call me a tinkerer.
Woman: You know what's going to happen tonight, don't you?
Doctor: Mmm-hmm. Of course. Of course. You see, where I come from, every schoolboy knows about Britain's first long-range rocket launch. [Because 20th century British history is a required course at the Time Lord Academy. That makes sense.]
Woman: You picked up a radio signal sent from this museum, you're very familiar with coded languages, and you know about the V2 rockets tonight. How do you explain this?
Doctor: I'm from a different planet.
Woman: Look, I don't know how you got in here, wiseguy, but you are not getting out.
Doctor: It's been fantastic to meet you. I must go.
Woman: I have never had the pleasure of shooting a Nazi, so if you try anything, you get to be my first. [Nazis! What do you want to bet some real Nazis make an appearance later on in this script, and the Doctor foils them?]
Scene 3:
Doctor: It's incredibly blue.
Woman: It's just floating there. I'm the first human being to ever see it like this. [I wouldn't count on that.] Just a blue ball alone in all this black space.
Doctor: What can you tell me about my father?
Woman: He seemed like a good man.
Doctor: Every single detail. Every detail, don't leave anything out.
Woman: I watched him change from an old man into a raw-boned Kansas farmer. Strong hands and weathered face. [I . . . have no words.]
Doctor: What did he say?
Woman: He said, "No matter how far you travel in your life, you can always go home. And I'll be there, waiting for you." ["Except for Gallifrey. I won't be there. Oh, and I won't be waiting for you on Earth either, because you have to search for me. On second thought, never mind."]
Doctor: That sounds like something he would say. [How would you know?]
Woman: Yeah.
Doctor: See, when I search for him again, I need to know what he looks like. [Better hope he hasn't regenerated again.]
Woman: Well, I'll point him out.
Doctor: We may not be together, you see, when the time comes.
Woman: Oh, yes, of course. I hadn't thought of that.
Doctor: I may never find him.
Also, so you can see it for yourselves, here's a link to a video I found of the audition. It has all of scene 1, and most of scene 3: http://io9.com/#!5758458/original-audition-video-proves-doctor-whos-1996-comeback-could-have-been-way-worse
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 10:11 am (UTC)the weird thing is... it does sound a lot like eight. sometimes. the bit about leading out of the darkness is very eight and then it falls down and begins sounding like nobody. ah well. what a weird weird thing.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-11 03:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 10:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-11 03:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 12:57 pm (UTC)I was amused by yr reactions, too:
[Politics? Sorry, but I can't imagine anyone urging the Doctor into politics.]
And from what I recall of Borusa's 4th doc appearances, he was quite keen not to have the Doctro involved in politics...
[Of course they're the Scrolls of Rassilon. One day, I want the Scrolls of Runcible to show up. Just for a change.]
Well, Runcible is the Present day. Only Ancient Heroes run to scrolls. The Lost Diary of Runcible... now there's an idea... :lol:
You are that blue-eyed child. [Except for the times when your eyes are brown.]
LOL. Although, to be fair to them, David Tennant was the first brown-eyed Doctor. (I have studied this in depth, because Target book covers were never clear on this point. :-D)
You see, where I come from, every schoolboy knows about Britain's first long-range rocket launch. [Because 20th century British history is a required course at the Time Lord Academy. That makes sense.]
LOl again, except it would explain a lot about the Doctor's fondness for British history and the Master always making a bee-line to mess up the Magna Carta. Why, though calls for cracky explanations. :-D
Doctor: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Aww. Some things about Eight are constant, it seems. Aw.
(I have seen lots of bits from the 'bible' but not the script snatches before.)
:-)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 01:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 04:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-11 03:16 am (UTC)Yes, exactly! If there was anyone who knew that the Doctor was not suited to politics, it was Borusa. I also loved the teacher-student dynamic they had, and I would've been very sad to see that changed into an "I'm-secretly-your-grandfather" dynamic.
Why do only ancient heroes get scrolls? Everyone should get a scroll!
Was Tennant really the first brown-eyed Doctor? I hadn't realized that. Even so, it seems like a strange thing for a Time Lord to say, unless most Time Lords keep their eye color when they regenerate.
The Doctor, the Master, the Rani, and the Meddling Monk did all have a lot of knowledge of British history, didn't they? Hmmm, we might be onto something! Maybe it is a required course!
(I have seen lots of bits from the 'bible' but not the script snatches before.)
I'm curious -- was there anything else especially bizarre in the 'bible' that's not in the script?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-12 08:45 pm (UTC)No, Present Day Peoples use normal paper, diaries, or computers. They never have scrolls. It is a rule. :-/
Well, my conclusion is not an official one, but it did come from several years of studying colour photos in DWM hard in order to answer the question. The Target book covers seemed very cavalier about it. However, I was pretty sure by the end, I seem to recall. And, yeah, it does not in any way take away nfrom the strangeness of the comment. I think maybe eyes had some importance in this first version and what survives is the human eye/eye of harmony stuff, maybe?
Yes, I mean, did they ever do things like kidnap Napoleon or prevent the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was always, stop magna carta, let Harold be king etc etc... And it would totally explain the Doctor and steam trains, too. Maybe they just had one of those lecturers at the academy - it was his pet hobby horse, so he went on about it instead of temporal mechanics. I had a couple like that...
I don't remember. You saying about Borusa made me remember seeing it before, but it was a few years ago it was in DWM, and I only knew very vague details in 1996. If I find the correct copy, I will let you know!!
Also, am looking at my shiny new DVD of the TVM and I cannot see an audition extra. Everything else, but not that. Strange.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-12 10:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-14 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 07:37 pm (UTC)LOLOLOLOLOL, also, true. :D
All of a sudden, the actual TV movie doesn't look THAT bad. :D I cannot believe McGann managed to say these lines with a straight face :D
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-11 03:19 am (UTC)And yes, I agree, we did luck out with the TVM . . .
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 10:05 pm (UTC)But this is SO Eight:
Doctor: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Will lead his people out of darkness, I know.
Seeing his character already formed in the midst of this madness is a special type of crack all on its own.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-11 03:28 am (UTC)